I need a hat, a chain for my wallet & a can of snuff.

In Breaux Bridge, LA. About 6 1/2 hours from my delivery point on Monday. Since I’m this close and I have so much time before delivery, I’m going to complete a reset prior to delivering. I expect that I’ll be dispatched to Chicago after delivery. If that’s the case I should be left with about 45hrs of clock left for the week. That should allow them to dispatch me anywhere in the lower 48 for my next delivery.

This past Thursday’s plan was to swap out my loaner truck for mine that has been at the dealership for the past month. I had quite the list of fixes they needed to make. I pulled into one of our terminals near Philly where my truck was located. I spent three hours moving and putting away all of my stuff in its place only to find out that several of the things I was having them fix, wasn’t completed. I spent the next three hours moving back into my loaner again. Needless to say I was, and still am, pissed. In the meantime I’m back out in this loaner. It’s not a bad truck but I prefer mine.
 
DAMN!! You musta had a laundry list of repairs and things that needed attention. And a month for them to do the work? Hrumpff... Is it a private company or dealer doing the repairs or a company owned facility, company owned being the one you drive for.
 
Whizzer said:
DAMN!! You musta had a laundry list of repairs and things that needed attention. And a month for them to do the work? Hrumpff... Is it a private company or dealer doing the repairs or a company owned facility, company owned being the one you drive for.
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It’s warranty work at the dealer. My truck is a 2022 Peterbilt that I got somewhere around last April. Everything was pretty good with the truck until one day it asked me to do a manual regen while I was on my way to Toyota in Texas late last fall.

I don’t know all of the functions of a regen but the basic premise is that it involves the super heating of filters that are used in capturing the ‘bad stuff’ associated with the exhaust emissions system. I’m assuming carbon and the like. Most times, while parked and idling for extended periods, the truck will automatically perform a mini regen. Basically the truck while automatically bump the idle from 650rpm to 1100rpm for about 15 minutes completing a mini regen. Rarely, the truck will display that a manual parked regen is required. When that’s the case, you have to park and initiate the process by pushing the regen button on the dash. The truck will then climb in rpm’s to around 1300rpm maintaining that rate until the burn out of that DPF filter is completed. Diesel particulate Filter. It’ll then return to the normal ideal speed and you’re in your way.

In my case, I stopped and performed the manual regen. It completed in about 30 minutes and I was on my way. Right after I got back on the interstate bells and whistles went off on the dash starting that my truck has been fully derated. Basically rendered useless. Power was reduced to the point I couldn’t travel much more than an idle speed. I did so on the berm until the next exit. This happened on a Saturday morning south of Louisville. I had to sit there until I was towed to a Peterbilt dealer back up in Louisville on Monday. There, they pulled the DPF filter and had it sent out to be cleaned. They then forced a regen in the truck and sent me in my way. In the meantime another driver hooked up to my trailer and took it to Texas. I was dispatched to go back up to Chicago. Just after I got on the beltway around Indianapolis my truck kicked into a full derate again. Again, I got towed. This time to the Indianapolis Peterbilt dealer where my truck sat for a few weeks while they worked on it. It was determined that there was a bad wiring harness. The wiring harness was replaced along with the programming being updated.

That’s where the problems really began. After the update I then started experiencing issues with shifting under load, windshield wiper issues after changing lanes, side detection fault of the lane departure system, transmission faults, auto start function disabled, product pump issues, and other minor things. Most all of those have to do with programming. The transmission fault error is actually a problem with the stick on the column where you select D, N or Reverse. It was sent out to be fixed but they didn’t do it right.

After swapping trucks last week I found that I was still getting the transmission fault error and my auto start feature still didn’t work. Didn’t even have the chance to get it out on the road so I don’t know if there are other issues. Time will tell once I’m able to get back in it.

I was P O’d on a couple different levels. One was with the dealer that they didn’t very these corrections. The other that our shop didn’t verify that the dealer had done their job. All of this should have been done before I was ever dispatched to get back into my truck. It was 6+ hours of me moving all my crap, twice, only to end up back where I started. Now, I do get paid for my time but I can make a lot more money when I put miles behind me. I look at that as a completely lost day away from home.

The truck I’m currently in is exactly the same as mine. A couple years older and a lot more miles but it seems to run fine. I’m not really out anything while I wait per than the comforts that I built into my truck that made it my own.

Dealers service has went downhill since Covid. Shorter shop hours. Parts have become rare due to manufacturing issues and availability. There’s a lot that’s not under their control but it’s really hurting the industry as a whole. Our company had 150 rigs in order that were to have been delivered by last spring. Truck are still, slowly, coming in. I think they’re close to having the order filled but they’re soon to order another 150-200 to replace older models. We’re just one of many companies in the same situation.
 
There is also a problem finding qualified technicians. All vehicles and farm equipment are over engineered. Even the ones who designed them usually don't know what's wrong. I was a farm equipment tech for over 40 years. I retired last year because of that. The emissions regulations screwed everything.
 
Plus, most dealership repair shops don't stay open 24 hours a day 7 days a week like they used to. Now most close at 11.00 pm during the week and noon on Saturday and closed on Sunday. That can really make it hard on companies and drivers to make deliveries on time when their truck or trailer breaks down. One of my main concerns when hauling race cars was not being at the track when it was time to race. I was lucky and never missed a race due to a break down, but I have had to rent another truck to get the trailer with everything we needed to race to the track.
 
kymartin6 said:
There is also a problem finding qualified technicians. All vehicles and farm equipment are over engineered. Even the ones who designed them usually don't know what's wrong. I was a farm equipment tech for over 40 years. I retired last year because of that. The emissions regulations screwed everything.
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They say 80% are emission problems on the newer trucks. I would imagine farm equipment would be the same. I got pretty good money for my last truck because it was non emissions and was old enough it wasn't forced to have a E log system and could use paper logs.
 
StandOnIt said:
They say 80% are emission problems on the newer trucks. I would imagine farm equipment would be the same. I got pretty good money for my last truck because it was non emissions and was old enough it wasn't forced to have a E log system and could use paper logs.
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That was definitely the main reason I was in the shop in the last few years I was out there. I think we spent over $20,000 on emissions repairs on the truck I drove for 5 years. My buddy traded his Peterbilt in on a brand new one around 2017 and after 2 years he had been in the shop so much for emissions repairs that he ended up selling it and getting out of the trucking industry.
 
Almost every truck we have in the shop currently is due to emissions. Peterbilt, Mac & International in our case. It’s the same thing with all of them. They are pretty much designed to be rendered useless until emission repairs are made. They all go into a full derate at the drop of a hat.
 
Currently at my delivery location near San Antonio, TX. Received dispatch to head to Chicago once I’m offloaded. Spending tonight in Waco before heading through Dallas under the cover of darkness later tonight. No need in dealing with traffic if o don’t have to.

Had a ‘first’ happen to me today. Driving through Texas in the slow lane doing 70mph. That’s my max. Had a truck passing me west bound on I-10 in a two lane section. He wasn’t going much faster than me so it was taking him a while to complete his pass. The four wheeler behind me decided to pass me on the berm. My truck radar clocked him/her @ 97mph when they got back into my lane. It’s bad enough doing something like that but visibility was already decreased due to fog. Fortunately there were no disabled vehicles that would have no doubt ended their day….. for good. Idiot.
 
We just drove to Miami from the Florida west coast and everything was peachy keen until getting about thirty miles from Miami and off I-75. Traffic on our side of four lanes was at 70 mph, 20 over the posted limit, in the right lane when some pseudo-race car driver decided to pass on my right on the berm and after passing me and a few more cars like that saw a narrowing of the road to eliminate the shoulder and they simply forced their way over. No one seemed to get upset although I figured there would be blaring car horns and one finger salutes. Twenty years ago, at the tender age of 66, I would have cussed, blown the horn and flipped tat driver off but age has mellowed my disposition substantially. ;)Figured people who drive there regularly accept that type of maneuver.:idunno:
 
Whizzer said:
We just drove to Miami from the Florida west coast and everything was peachy keen until getting about thirty miles from Miami and off I-75. Traffic on our side of four lanes was at 70 mph, 20 over the posted limit, in the right lane when some pseudo-race car driver decided to pass on my right on the berm and after passing me and a few more cars like that saw a narrowing of the road to eliminate the shoulder and they simply forced their way over. No one seemed to get upset although I figured there would be blaring car horns and one finger salutes. Twenty years ago, at the tender age of 66, I would have cussed, blown the horn and flipped tat driver off but age has mellowed my disposition substantially. ;)Figured people who drive there regularly accept that type of maneuver.:idunno:
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Some think they’re invincible.
 
20 ish years ago I had just made the turn fully loaded onto a sleight uphill on ramp in my big truck in the L.A. area during the hellish morning rush hour. I glanced in my right side mirror to see some yea-who kicking up dust and crap passing me in the gutter on the right side. I was so intent watching this joker that when I turned to look ahead, another one passed me on the left side. They met in front of me side by side racing to be the first to get to the parking lot they call an L.A. freeway.
 
This has been an educational thread for me. I thought I knew the DOT regs were really tough and unbearable enough to force some smaller outfits out of the buisness.
Still the same, I have always believed that transportation was also a tough business in spite of that due to having a lot of competition.

It also doesn't surprise that the emissions regulations would be a real PITA. But the thought of a truck automatically going into a full "derate" and essentially shutting down something as new as 2022 model is something I could have never imagined.

I am also assuming that the cost for a emissions control repair is considered to be a routine operational cost like fuel and tire wear or something that isn't covered under a warranty.
To an outsider like me, it would seem like the kind of burden or disaster that would run a private trucker out of business.
 
I am not sure the warranty period on over the road trucks, but is govt. mandated at 5 years or 3000 hours on Ag equipment for emissions controls unless it was caused by the customer. After that you have to mortgage everything you own to have it repaired. Just as with over the road trucks, Ag equipment will shut down wherever you are, be it on the road ( imagine a 17 foot wide combine or tractor), or in the field. They usually have to be repaired wherever they derate.
 
kymartin6 said:
I am not sure the warranty period on over the road trucks, but is govt. mandated at 5 years or 3000 hours on Ag equipment for emissions controls unless it was caused by the customer. After that you have to mortgage everything you own to have it repaired. Just as with over the road trucks, Ag equipment will shut down wherever you are, be it on the road ( imagine a 17 foot wide combine or tractor), or in the field. They usually have to be repaired wherever they derate.
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Is the derate thing applicable to all diesel engines or just for trucking and Ag equipment?
 
Greg said:
Is the derate thing applicable to all diesel engines or just for trucking and Ag equipment?
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I have a F-250 diesel currently. Had a GMC-2500 diesel before. I never experienced anything like that with either of those two models. Each of them did/do perform automatic regens while at Highway speed when necessary.

I recently took my f-250 in for a emissions recall. The programming change altered my idle speed when sitting for more than a few minutes.
 
Speak of the devil….. No sooner got on the road this morning only to have my truck tell me that it needed to perform a parked regen. Just pulled over to start the process. Normally takes between 30-45 minutes in this truck.

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And then….. the regen completed. Started down the road and went into a full derate. I’m pulled over again and have initiated another regen. Not looking good at the moment. All kinds of new faults on the dash. Damn.
 
Many of the faults have now disappeared but the regen continues. I’ve never been able to recover from a full derate in the past. Fingers crossed that somehow this 2nd manual regen does the trick. Normally, once I’ve gone to derate, it’s always required dealer intervention to force a regen.
 
Yeah, I’m apparently screwed. Finished a 2nd regen and started down the road again. Same faults popped up. Performing a 3rd regen now. When it’s completed, I’m turning around and heading back to a Peterbilt dealer in Waco. What really sucks is, I started my day right across the street from that dealer. I stayed at the Pilot there. That may end up being my new home until this gets fixed.
 
That sucks!! This is all new to me with this regeneration business. We had motorhomes since the mid-seventies, all gas class "C" until 1988 when we bought the first of three diesel pusher motorhomes. The first was a Monaco with a small Detroit. It was really low on horsepower and flat towing a Jeep Cherokee was too much. We kept it two years before trading it for a Country Coach with a Cat 3208 turbo. That particular engine was pretty dirty even though we were meticulous about maintenance plus it had a design flaw in the fuel sediment bowl that would draw air causing it to lose power in the most inconvenient places to the point we carried extras with us. Our last motorhome was a Foretravel 36 foot (made in Nacogdoches, Texas!) with a Cummins 8.3, 350 hp.That engine was clean and consistently delivered 10 mpg or a little more towing a Chrysler T&C van. Of the diesel pusher motorhomes the one powered by Cummins was the smoothest and most trouble free connected to an Allison 6 speed transmission. It has me wondering how these newer units with all the anti-pollution equipment will act/react to low mileage and long term parking with fuel sitting in tank. Would that have any bearing on regeneration? I still see used ones twenty years old with low mileage.
 
Having to run at idle or anything below full power generates more NOX, this tends to plug the catalyst sooner causing more frequent regens. Some vehicles must use a regen system that injects diesel fuel into the catalyst and ignites it, burning to 1500 degrees, plus inject DEF fluid (which is ammonia) . They are 2 completely different emission systems used in conjunction with each other, thus doubling the chance for trouble. Failure in either system can cause a derate usually causing to necitate having to hook up a laptop to unlock.
 
I interrupted the 3rd regen in order to head to Waco. Only 15 or so miles backtracking. At some point during that run back, the regen light went out as did all the other lights with the exception of the check engine light. My shop wanted me to then head back to Chicago since they were no more apparent issues. Because of the delay in running all those regens, it out me into the middle of rush hour in the Dallas area. Did a lot of idling in the stop and go traffic. While it didn’t trigger the call to do another regen it was tripping codes related to Regen issues. Nothing that was stopping me from moving though. I basically kept my foot on the floor and made it to a truck stop 70 miles or so above Memphis. I’ve shut it down for the night and plan on leaving here early in the am for the final 7 hours to our shop in Chicago. They can debug this there. I’m calling it a day. More to come tomorrow.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I interrupted the 3rd regen in order to head to Waco. Only 15 or so miles backtracking. At some point during that run back, the regen light went out as did all the other lights with the exception of the check engine light. My shop wanted me to then head back to Chicago since they were no more apparent issues. Because of the delay in running all those regens, it out me into the middle of rush hour in the Dallas area. Did a lot of idling in the stop and go traffic. While it didn’t trigger the call to do another regen it was tripping codes related to Regen issues. Nothing that was stopping me from moving though. I basically kept my foot on the floor and made it to a truck stop 70 miles or so above Memphis. I’ve shut it down for the night and plan on leaving here early in the am for the final 7 hours to our shop in Chicago. They can debug this there. I’m calling it a day. More to come tomorrow.
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I feel for you dpk. It sucks that this stuff just makes your job so much harder and time consuming.
 
I suppose there are people who think driving a truck doesn't have issues but you've certainly given us an entirely different picture of what is involved and have done so since being this new phase of your life. Although it isn't new any more it is still very interesting to lean of your exploits and trials. Keep your foot in it and keep on trucking'.

I don't mean to be repetitive but I, and apparently others as well, appreciate your adventures explained in easy to understand terms and accompanying photos. 👍
 
So the prevailing thought is that they intend to clear the codes using their laptop. They’ll then force a regen through the software setting if it’ll trip any more codes. I don’t really know how that resolves anything as I already performed regens to their completion. We’ll see how this shakes out.

In the meantime, my next dispatch is to Eugene Oregon. If I get back on the road here, that’ll prove to be an interesting trip with the pending winter weather that’s hitting the Rockies and heading East. I’m not looking forward to driving into that at all. Probably ‘chain up’ weather.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
So the prevailing thought is that they intend to clear the codes using their laptop. They’ll then force a regen through the software setting if it’ll trip any more codes. I don’t really know how that resolves anything as I already performed regens to their completion. We’ll see how this shakes out.

In the meantime, my next dispatch is to Eugene Oregon. If I get back on the road here, that’ll prove to be an interesting trip with the pending winter weather that’s hitting the Rockies and heading East. I’m not looking forward to driving into that at all. Probably ‘chain up’ weather.
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Sounds like they are trying to put a band-aid on it to get rid of you. I hope you are close to another shop when you leave there.
 
kymartin6 said:
Sounds like they are trying to put a band-aid on it to get rid of you. I hope you are close to another shop when you leave there.
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Yeah, I agree. What they are doing aren’t steps to repair anything. I think they think forcing a regen will do the trick. Personally I think the problem is probably a sensor of some sort that can detect that the regen has been completed. That or a faulty filter sensor indicating a dirty filter. Both uneducated guesses on my part.

And no, this is the furthest west of our terminals. If I head to Oregon, Peterbilt dealers are my only means of repairs. That usually requires several days and sometimes longer. The only good thing is that they are plentiful.
 
Still have a ways to go but the regen is finally running. Temps still have a ways to climb but this is a general overview of how the sausage is made…..

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So, I’m going to have to take them at their word…. I’m being told that this forced regen will run longer than the normal regen that I initiate when prompted. Because of its length, and the increased heat generated, it is supposed to do a more thorough cleaning of the DPF. Sounds logical but then again that description may be complete BS and I’ll be no better off than before this process began. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I’m sitting along a road in southern Idaho somewhere. At least the scenery will be spectacular. ;)
 
Well, that didn’t last long. After their forced regen yesterday afternoon I pulled my truck around back to call it a day. Shut the truck off. Set the auto start. Watched some Netflix and grabbed some sleep. Got up this morning. Prepared my coffee maker. Started the truck and bam, 3 new active faults. While it tells me that there are faults, I’m unable to read them. They have to plug into the truck with their laptop to read the faults.

Meanwhile, the truck is running fine. There’s nothing to indicate an issue other than the dash display. I’ve got a 0630 delivery 30 minutes from my location. Going to go make that delivery and come back to have them look at this again.

My next dispatch is to Eugene Oregon. That trailer is being loaded by someone else and won’t be available to me until late this afternoon. I plan on leaving tonight. Hopefully they’ll get these faults figured out.

Currently, most of I80 in Wyoming is shut down because of the weather. The other route, running across South Dakota isn’t much better. There’s simply no good way to get there from the East. Bound to be an interesting trip.
 
Keep us posted. With the weather shaping up as it is you might be in for some interesting experiences Hopefully none of them bad. Looking at national news reports the mess in Wyoming, Montana, and theDakotas and Nebraska look as if it is nearly impassable currently. Maybe most of the bad crap will be a non-factor when you get to that neck of the woods.
 
This is so frustrating to read and it's not even me dealing with it! You seem to be handling it well but I don't know how you do it. Hopefully someone gets this figured out.
 
So….. Finished delivering this mornings load. It was automatic transmission fluid. The place I delivered to manufacturers transmissions for GM. Easy delivery only a few miles from our Chicago terminal.

I was on my way back to the terminal after delivering when I got the message that my Eugene load was canceled. At least for me. It’s due to this truck having these issues. The good news is that I also received an email that’s telling me that my actual truck, that’s been in the shop, has been fixed. So, I’m now waiting on dispatch to head east, to Pottstown, PA to get my truck back. They’re trying to get me a load heading that direction that will get me there by tomorrow to swap trucks again. So, currently waiting on dispatch.

In the meantime they’ve got my loaner truck back in the Chicago shop plugged back into the computer. We’ll see how this goes.
 
Tony_K said:
This is so frustrating to read and it's not even me dealing with it! You seem to be handling it well but I don't know how you do it. Hopefully someone gets this figured out.
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Doesn’t make any sense to get to pissed off. No matter how mad I’d get it wouldn’t change anything for the better. Besides, it could be worse. I get paid for my downtime. It’s not the kind of money I can make putting miles behind me but it all works.
 
Whizzer said:
Keep us posted. With the weather shaping up as it is you might be in for some interesting experiences Hopefully none of them bad. Looking at national news reports the mess in Wyoming, Montana, and theDakotas and Nebraska look as if it is nearly impassable currently. Maybe most of the bad crap will be a non-factor when you get to that neck of the woods.
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Yeah, that storm has both the route options locked down that I would have taken. I had decided to take I80 westbound. From Chicago, I would have been able to go to Grand Island Nebraska for my first stop. I could have waited at a rather large truck stop there waiting for the roads to open. The weather looks to get better into and through the weekend. I am glad that I don’t have to deal with it now but I would have liked the miles.
 
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